Name
by CheonSongYi
Summary: Normal day, not so normal questions. Sakura x (dense) Nozaki. Canon compliant
1. Chapter 1

A/n: It has been proved over and over again in canon that Nozaki is a dense KY who will be competing with Seo in terms of his ability. This is a fic establishing that fact... at the cost of Sakura's embarrassment and Suzuki's teacher's sideburns.

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"So, Sakura, tell me more about this guy you confessed to."

The hand that was cheerfully filling black ink inside beta lines suddenly stopped short. Sakura Chiyo paled.

_"__Nozaki-kun…"_

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Nozaki Umetaro sat expectantly on the desk of his home-cum-studio, in front of his assistant. Ken-san had instructed him to add yet another character to his manga, _Let's Love, _but a few problems had sprung up.

Nozaki had positively tried, using every bit of his strength to put down some parameters for a new character on the paper currently lying innocently in front of him. Unfortunately, all that came out of his pen was Suzuki. Somehow, all his characters always ended up being _that_. With the main protagonist, rival and best friend all being based on primarily the same core species – _yes, Suzuki was a species now in his mind_ – Nozaki had no other choice but to design a new character with a new framework. Maybe a 'delinquent-but-tsundere' type?

_What about Mikoshiba? _his mind questioned.

Sure, his friend gave off the 'bad boy' vibe, but Nozaki knew that Mikoshiba was not like how many people thought he was. Besides, he was already the model for Mamiko, and there was no need to make two characters too similar, so there goes that option.

_There is always the Drama club_, he thought.

Ah, the Drama club; it had given Nozaki a lot of trouble over his first year of High School, (what with Kashima and her antics); but it had also helped him with many difficult scenarios that would be impossible to draw without human reference (like when Sakura, Kashima, Mikoshiba _and_ Hori-senpai stood on boxes to help him with a hug scene).

Hori-senpai was also doing the backgrounds for his manga, so Nozaki couldn't really hold a grudge against the club. He _could_ ask his upperclassman for a script where the "Prince" of the Club may have played the anti, but the time constraint on the making if the _name_ prevented him from doing so.

_Seo…_, no.

Nozaki's mind auto stopped his thought processes from going down that line. Just the idea of dealing with the oblivious KY brought him quite the despair.

Not finding any fruitful use of his time, Nozaki decided to chase inspiration from the outside world. The fact that they were in the middle of winter break, which meant no school, and that it was dark outside, which meant no couple-vouyering, did not help him. The poor artist sank back to his desk with a deflated enthusiasm.

Minutes later, a brain wave struck him and he finally felt like he had found the correct answer to his problem. _Sakura's one-sided crush!_

He turned to face the auburn haired girl who sat on a separate desk, filling ink in the sideburns of Suzuki's sensei, smiling happily.

"So, Sakura, tell me more about this guy you confessed to." he said.

Her hand immediately stopped and the teacher's hair was left neglected for a while. When she turned her face up, she looked up a bit pale and her eyes were blown wide. Nozaki felt a pang of guilt at having brought up what was probably a sore spot for his classmate and friend, but then he swallowed whatever was it and with the excuse of 'work related hazards' and continued his expression-monitoring.

A red blush was decidedly making its way up from Sakura's neck to her cheeks, and Nozaki did not know what to make of that.

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A/n: I'll update when i get reviews! Till then, tata!


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Too much happening at once has never been very good for Sakura's health.

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_"__It was you…."_

There was no way she could _ever_ say that.

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Sakura Chiyo had always loved to draw. That is why it wasn't a big problem for her to work for Nozaki-kun, the manga artist no one believed him to be.

Her friends had once (out of the blue) asked her if she worked for a manga artist, to whom she had hastily replied: "I wouldn't say 'work', uh, I fill in the beta markings and… inking, you know? That's more of what I do."

Certainly, she knew what she did, but it would have been easier to _say_ it had she contacted Nozaki-kun purely on professional basis. As the situation was, there were… _feelings_ involved from the very beginning. And that too, one-sided.

"So, Sakura, tell me more about this guy you confessed to."

Sakura had seen him fidget from across the table, had seen him draw things and crumple up the pages, had seen him sit back and tap his finger on his chin, but she had never thought that Nozaki-kun was _character designing. _

She had meant to ask him about it, but as The Question was posed to her, Sakura's brain kicked into over-drive mode at warp nine, and all that came out was nonsense even she couldn't decipher: _"W-w-w-what are you talking about, N-n-nozaki-kun?"_ she stammered, _"There's no person like that!"_

For a moment, Sakura forgot all about beta-ing and lowered her chin to her chest, cheeks aflame with embarrassment. Her throat went dry and she made a stray mark across the page (by mistake!) Anxious nerves took hold over her every sense and her heart beat a little faster (no, it certainly missed a few beats here and there, _are you ok there, my heart?_)

Nozaki-kun furrowed his brow. "But I'm sure there was a person. At the starting of the term or sometime back… you said that, I'm sure." He nodded.

While Sakura was busy hiding her by-now-obvious discomfiture and cursing Nozaki-kun's too good memory, he leaned closer to examine her expression. When she looked up, her eyes went wide at the proximity of their faces.

"Sakura," Nozaki-kun started.

"Y-yes?" She still hadn't gotten over her inability to speak, _very well done, Chiyo._

"Stay still for a minute."

Her heart jumped in her chest. "What do you mean-"

Nozaki-kun pulled out a camera and snapped a picture and exclaimed in an excited voice, "A blushing high-school girl, hm-hmm." He held the camera up and looked at with growing approval, "Youth really is _the_ time to fall in love and chase your dreams, isn't it?"

Sakura cleared her throat to snap him out of his reverie. Nozaki-kun turned swiftly to face her, "Oh, I'm sorry, Sakura, this is so important to you,"

"Actually, I-I was thinking that," she gave a small cough, "We should get back to work."

_And it's not like I can tell you that __you're__ the person I like…_

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A/n: Thank you for the reviews! the most recent one prompted me to update :)


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: thank you so much for the reviews, everyone! they mean a lot :)

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_"Sakura, I have a very selfish request to make. Please listen."_

She lifted her head. _"What is it, Nozaki-kun?"_

_"I..."_ He trailed off, not knowing any better way to phrase his extra ordinary query, _"I need to use your body."_

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Nozaki was so sure that there was someone—a boy—who Sakura had mentioned, that he probably was carried away in his own fantastic discovery. He put a hand to his chin, deep in thought. He remembered the day as clearly as he remembered the opening ceremony, when he had looked almost beaten up from the stress of his manuscript, and had helped Sakura jump down from the gate. Now only if he could remember exactly _what _she had said on the day when he gave her his first signature…

Sakura cleared her throat again, keeping her face tilted towards her paper, and studying Suzuki's sensei with the utmost attention.

_She must be trying to memorize the lines_, Nozaki thought, _this dedication to Suzuki's sensei! I am moved!_

"Ah, yes. Let's work." Nozaki picked up his pen, because he could not lose to his assistant in being dedicated to his own work. He moved his hand forward to dip it into the ink-pot in the middle of the table. They were sharing ink because the small bottle that Sakura used was nearly finished, and both needed at least two centimeter deep ink for dipping their brushes and working effectively.

Now it just so happened that Sakura wanted to dip her beta-brush into the pot as well, and their hands collided mid-way. Sakura looked up, her face feverish-red. "N-n-nozaki-kun?"

"Ah," He motioned with his hand, ever the gentleman, "You can take it first."

"No, uhm, you can take it first, Nozaki-kun,"

Nozaki quickly dipped his maru pen in the ink and pulled up a new page. He jotted down some points from the situation just now:

_1) Hands meeting._

_2) Hesitation_

Then thought for a while. Not making much of the situation, he just added '_doki-doki_' to the third number—his typical way to end a love story—before tearing the page off and getting up to pin it on the pin-board. Ken-san had asked for a "_pure love that depicted the daily struggles of a high-school girl in love_" and since it had been requested, Nozaki had been secretly noting down points from his contact with Sakura.

But this brought him back to his problem from earlier. _What about character design? _He slumped forward in his seat.

There were only so many hair-styles and face-shapes Nozaki could draw solely from imagination. After a point, he needed to go people-watching, or every design that came out of his hand was, unfortunately, _Suzuki-styled_.

An idea struck him as he watched Sakura diligently filling in the lines of Mamiko's friend's hair. _He can use Sakura!_

"Sakura," he started, urgency filling his voice, "I have a very selfish request to make. Please listen."

She lifted her head up, eyes wide and cheeks redened. "What is it, Nozaki-kun?"

"I..." He trailed off, but not knowing any better way to phrase his extra ordinary query, he said it in a rushed sentence that was unusual his calm self, _"I need to use your body."_

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A/n: uh-oh, who knows what happens next? does Nozaki really mean what he says? or is Sakura misunderstanding his words? .


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